


Borrowing is not easy

by AelitaLyoko



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Cute, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, Protective Shiro (Voltron), References to The Borrowers, Shrinking, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26452261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AelitaLyoko/pseuds/AelitaLyoko
Summary: Lance is a borrower, at least for the last two months, because he does not remembers anything besides that. He is not really good at being a borrower, but when he is discovered by a human named Keith, secrets begin to unfold.
Relationships: Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

“Lance, be quicker.” His brother was already descending from the counter with a hook attached to a thread, but Lance was still grabbing some bread crumbs from a loaf of bread and filling his hand-made bag with it.

“I’m coming, gimme a second.” He made sure the bag was closed and started doing the same thing as his brother. When he stepped on the floor, he was looking at him with impatience and they made their way to the inside of the walls, from a little hole behind a flower pot.

“You know, next time I won’t wait for you, you have to be quicker or you’ll get caught. To be honest, I don’t understand how you have survived this long. You make the same mistakes as little kids do.” Tim started talking in the security of the tunnels behind the walls.

“I’ve already told you, I don’t remember anything besides the last two months.” Lance replied, and he saw Tim had a sad face, but he turned it away quickly.

“But you remember how to talk, so why don't you remember how to borrow properly?”

“I dunno.”

“Oh well, guess it can’t be helped.” Tim sighed.

They arrived at a small cave under the floor, where the rest of their family were. The floor was decorated with a little piece of blue cloth, and the light came from a lantern laying there. He spotted their beds, they were just a cluster of rugs and pieces of clothes. Lance remembered when he woke up there, without his memories. He was confused and the first face he saw was Tim’s. He told him he had rescued him from the top of a table in the bedroom of one of the humans when said human left the room. Lance was surprised, at first, by the use of the word human, but he couldn’t remember anything, nor how he ended up there. Then Tim explained that he was a borrower, and he and his family took him in and taught him everything he needed to survive. Lance was very grateful, especially after knowing they had to move out of their old house because of him getting spotted, and they even carried him while being unconscious.

“Welcome home! Glad you made it back safely.” Martha, her mother, greeted them.

“Well, Lance is still being slow.” Tim blurted.

“So? No human will be back in at least an hour!” Lance defended himself.

“That doesn’t matter, you can’t take that long, Lance. You never know if they’ll be back without any advice.” That was his father, James.

“I know, sorry.” Lance apologized, he was ashamed but he didn’t fully understand their paranoia.

His father sighed. “Just be careful, okay?” Lance nodded.

Luckily, they had food for at least three days, so they wouldn’t need to get out for some time.

Lance was tired of running around, he wasn't as fit and athletic as his family, his brother was also exhausted, but because of the stress of going out. They both rested for some time after getting comfortable on their beds. Lance’s dreams were always black, in fact he didn’t dream and he didn’t recall any previous dream. He wanted to remember and that was his priority, but his family found that a waste of time and energy, so they never helped him out. Even though Lance understood why, they had more important things to keep them busy, which was surviving everyday. Besides, he didn’t have a clue on how to get his memories back, so, in a sense, they were right.

***************************************************************************************************

After spending some quiet and calm days, it was time to get out again. That night it was Lance and Tim’s turn, since the last time it were their parents who got out. To be as invisible as they could, they dressed with black clothes and Lance covered half his face with a black bandana and his head with a hood sewed to his shirt. All of these clothes were put together by Lance himself, something he was very proud of.

Silently, they got out to the kitchen. They had to get some sugar cubes from the counter, so they made their way up, just like Lance was taught. Their objective was a sugar bowl. Together they lifted the top and they rested it slowly on the counter. When they were about to grab the cubes, they heard some footsteps coming from the stairs. A human was coming down to the kitchen. Without thinking, Tim started running towards the edge and going down to the floor. But Lance didn’t. He believed he could make it before the human arrived there and stuffed some cubes on his bag, as quick as he could. _I did it, I just have to get down_. Lance thought.

Suddenly, the lights got turned on. Lance freezed. _Oh no, this can’t be happening. How did he get here so fast?_ He looked at the door frame. A huge human was standing there, but he didn’t notice Lance. His first thought was to hide inside the sugar bowl, but the top was too heavy to be lifted by only himself, so he got behind it. _At least Tim is safe, guess I’m too stupid to survive anyway_. Lance had already assumed he was dead, his family had told him stories of what happened to a borrower when they were caught by a human, and they weren’t nice. _I can’t believe I’m going to become one of those stories_. He gulped down and prayed for the human to get out without spotting him. He was scared, but felt guilt overall, it was his own fault that he ended up in that situation.

The human opened the fridge and got out water, and drank it for some seconds. It felt like minutes to Lance, his heart beating so fast he thought it would get out.

He heard the human come closer, and the sugar bowl was raised by him. He casted a shadow so long and deep over Lance, he, for a moment, thought the human couldn’t see him. But his purple eyes were fixed on him, and they got widened with shock at the sight of a tiny man. Lance, on the other hand was also shocked, he could not take his eyes out of the human. It was the first time he saw one so close, and he was more scared than he ever imagined possible. His hands were bigger than his hole body, and heavier, it was a terrifying and deshearting view. Lance couldn’t move, fear had glued his feet to the counter. His hands were cold and wet from sweating. _It’s over for me, everything is over._

“What the…?”

***************************************************************************************************

Tim didn’t get close to see what happened, he immediately got inside his house. “A human got Lance!”

His parents gasped.

“Are you sure?” His mother’s face turned white, all blood disappeared from her face.

They heard the human say something with a loud voice. “What the…?”

“We have to go, now.” James was already packing their stuff.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Martha already knew the answer, but she felt the need to ask it.

“He got himself in that situation, we can’t do anything.” Tim said while tears appeared in his face, but he gathered his stuff too. If they didn’t leave, they might be the next to get captured.

With that, they left their house, again, and they entered the darkness of the night in a search of a new home.

***************************************************************************************************

Keith was sleeping but he woke up after a nightmare he couldn’t remember. He hasn’t been feeling good for a long time, but there wasn’t much for him to do about it. He reached to his bedside table to grab a water bottle but it was empty. He groaned and forced himself to get up.

When he entered the kitchen he could swear he saw a shadow moving over the counter, but he didn’t give it much thought. But when he started drinking he noticed that the top of one of the bowls, the sugar one, was opened. Keith thought it might be a mouse or a little animal like that, so he returned the bottle to the fridge and got closer.

Carefully and as quick as he could, he raised the bowl, and when he saw a tiny man, he almost dropped it.

“What the…?” He muttered.

Keith couldn’t stop looking at the tiny man in front of him. It was completely covered in black clothes, and the only thing he could see of him were his blue eyes. He was fixated on him for at least five minutes, but when he snapped out of it, he noticed he was trembling and frightened of him.

“H-hey, don’t worry, it’s okay.” He tried talking as soft and low as he could, but it didn’t work, the little guy’s expression didn’t change.

“Ple-please, don’t hurt me.” His voice was slightly muffled by the bandana in his mouth. Keith was caught out of guard by those words. He was able to talk, but he was also worried about what he would do to him.

“I won’t hurt you.” Keith didn’t know what else to say.

“Are you going to eat me?”

“What? Of course not, I don’t eat people.” Keith wanted to feel offended, but he could understand the guy’s concerns, he must be like a building to him. At those words he seemed to relax a bit and stopped trembling.

“I just hope you don’t put me a ridiculous name…” The man said under his breath, but Keith was able to pick it up.

“What do you mean?” Keith really didn’t understand what he was talking about.

“Aren’t you going to make me be your pet?” Keith stayed silent for some seconds, confused.

“No, why would I do that?”

“My parents told me that’s the kind of stuff humans do to people like me.” Keith started feeling bad for that guy and decided to leave him alone.

“Well, I will just go, so… you do whatever you were doing and get back to your family.” Keith started leaving the room, but the guy talked again.

“I can’t, they are gone.” He started crying. Keith got close to him not sure how to comfort him.

“What happened to them?” He tried to search the most respectful words he could think of.

“They are searching for a new home right now, when they catch one of us, the others have to flee.” He started rubbing out his tears.

“Maybe I can help you find them.” Keith offered.

“No, that would be putting them in danger. I’m alone now.” His voice sounded resigned now.

“Are you going to search for a new home too?” Keith was worried about him.

“No, that would be pointless. I’m bad at surviving, without them I’m practically dead. I mean, you caught me. It’s over.” Keith’s face turned sad. But he decided to help him. He felt that was, in part, his own fault.

***************************************************************************************************

In the matter of some minutes Lance felt he lost his willingness to fight. He thought of running on some occasions, but he knew it would be pointless, and it would probably make the human angry. He didn’t have many options, he felt his life had been short, and he only remembered two months of it. He regretted a lot of things, but the most important one to him was not having his memory back. But there wasn’t anything left to do.

“Maybe you can stay with me, if you want.” Keith said.

 _I’m going to be his pet, I knew it. But at least pets are treated well, right?_ Lance’s heart sinked at the thought, but it was his best chance at surviving.

“Okay.” He said softly. The human seemed content with him accepting his offer. He seemed to think something before he kept talking.

“Do you want to go to sleep?”

Lance was tired, that was for sure, so he nodded. The human seemed to catch that and rested his hand, palm up, on the counter. He didn’t want to be held by a human, but it would be worse if he just grabbed him, so he slowly moved towards the hand. He gulped and climbed on it, sitting facing the human.

“Okay, here we go.” He carefully raised his hand and started walking out of the kitchen. He moved his other hand under the one Lance was in, to prevent him from falling, which was appreciated. Lance felt like the motion the hand was making had happened before, but he could not remember anything. Instead he focused on the human. His skin was very pale, and his hair was really ugly, it was a mullet of black hair. But his face was pretty and seemed soft.

When they reached the stairs Lance had to hold to the human’s thumb, and he looked at him with a small smile, at which Lance looked away.

The human rested his hand again on a table and Lance got out. The human started looking for something and Lance immediately started looking for a way to get down, but it was impossible. His thread was too short and the door of the bedroom was closed, so Lance just sat down.

The human brought him a small blanket and a napkin. Lance accomodated himself on the blanket and the human covered his body with the napkin, letting only his face out. He decided to let his hoodie and bandana on to keep his face warm. _Okay, a human made me a bed and put a blanket over me. Something is really wrong._ Lance suspected it might be a dream, but it was obvious it wasn’t. It seemed like everything that his family taught him was wrong, or maybe this human was the exception, or maybe it might happen in the morning.

Lance couldn’t help it, but he felt safe around this human, for some reason he didn’t understand. From his position he watched the human get into his bed and reached for the light to turn it off.

“Good night.” The human said.

“Good night.” Replied Lance.

It didn’t take too long for Lance to sleep, he was really comfortable.


	2. Chapter 2

“You are not putting enough strength.” James moved Lance’s shoulder to the right posture. Lance tried again to throw the hook to the counter, but it didn’t reach.

“Ugh, it’s too far away, no way I’m getting it up there.” He sighed.

“Son, don’t take this to heart, but you have the strength and ability of children.” Lance touched his arms, they seemed good enough.

“Perhaps something happened before you lost your memories, but regardless, you are going to have to work out.” 

James climbed to the counter and gathered some stuff while Lance made guard on the floor. 

Lance knew there were two humans in the house, their names were Shiro and Keith. He had never seen them, in the three weeks he had been there he had only got out of their home six days, and every single time none of them were there. 

Even tho, his family were always scared of them coming, something Lance didn’t quite get. He knew humans were huge and dangerous, but they had never come when they were out. He felt better outside, his skin warm by the sun shining through the windows and the fresh air. Their house was fine, but it felt heavy and small to Lance, so he tried to get as many chances to get out, but since he was really inexperienced, it happened a few times.

“Here. Use them.” James handed over two huge marbles to Lance. “There were a lot of them laying above some papers, you can lift them up to get stronger.”

As Lance took them, he noticed how heavy they were.

“Thanks, James.” He smiled at Lance. They got back to their house and Lance started lifting them every time he could. And in a few days, he could already land his hook on the counter.

******************************************************************************************************************

Keith woke up and the first thing he did was check on the blanket the tiny man was on. Even though everything that happened the night before was clear on his mind, it still surprised him to see him there, sleeping peacefully. Keith had to admit he was very cute, but his head remained covered, letting only the eyes visible. Yesterday was probably a stressful day, so as quiet as he could, he left the room and started cooking breakfast. He wasn’t good at it, but one of his friends, Hunk, taught him to cook a little bit. Keith always messed up the mixture one way or another, so he went for the easy route, buying the pancake mixture directly and just frying it on the pan. He made some pancakes for him and his brother, and poured some smaller dots for the other guy. _I really should ask him his name._ Keith though. 

He placed two plates of breakfast on the kitchen table and the small ones on a tea plate that he carried to his room.

“Good morning, I hope you like pancakes.” Keith let the little plate beside him. The guy couldn’t take his eyes out of the pancakes, and he ran towards them. But before eating them, he looked at Keith, like he just noticed he was there and his presence made him uncomfortable.

“Thanks.” He simply said. Keith had a hard time understanding him, probably due to the bandana, but he had a good hearing, so that helped.

“I gotta go down to eat with my brother, I will be back when I finish.” With that he exited his room, he glanced back during a second at him before leaving.

“Something’s smelling nice.” Shiro was preparing some coffee for himself, and they ate their breakfast together.

When they finished, Shiro put the dishes on the sink and grabbed his suitcase. 

“I’ll be back in the afternoon, behave yourself.” He patted Keith’s hair and was ready to leave for work at the space station. 

“Shiro!” He stopped in his tracks and glanced at Keith, surprised. Keith was going to tell him about what happened yesterday, but he thought it better and decided to ask the small guy first, just in case. “Oh, uh… See you later!” Keith improvised. Shiro frowned at Keith's strange behavior, but he nodded and left. Keith returned to his room.

******************************************************************************************************************

That definitely was the best food Lance had ever had, or that at least he could remember having. It was warm and soft, and he enjoyed every bite without letting anything on the plate.

When he heard the human come back, he quickly put the bandana over his mouth and standed up.

“Hey, did you like the food?” The human asked.

“Yeah, it was really good.” Lance seemed more calmed after eating.

“I don’t have anything to do today, since it’s saturday. Do you want to do something?” The human suspected he would tell him no, so when he nodded, it caught him out of guard.

“And what would that be?” He noticed that Lance blushed slightly.

“Well, I need to use the bathroom.” Lance looked away.

“Oh, sure, do you need me to take you somewhere or…?” The human was pretty sure he couldn’t use a normal bathroom. 

“Just leave me on the kitchen floor.” Lance mumbled. 

He took him there the same way, on his palm. Lance thought about leaving through his house, because one of the tunnels ended up in a loosened up rack, and escape through there to the garden, but he remembered that you needed at least two borrowers to move it enough to fit, so it would be pointless. Instead he went to another hole in the walls and did his thing.

When he got out the human was there with his palm ready, and Lance climbed again. It was really weird being carried in a hand, but Lance was starting to feel less intimidated by it.

“I thought we could watch something on TV, what do you think?” The human went towards his room again. Lance simply nodded. _I don’t have much choice anyway._

He placed Lance on his bed, and he sitted there with a controller. Seeing the box light up made Lance jump in surprise, and the human let a shy chuckle. Lance blushed and smiled. 

“They are making Star Wars, I used to watch this movie a lot with a friend.” The human seemed to think about something before continuing to talk. “Would you like to give it a try?”

Lance didn’t know what that was, and he didn’t know any other movie, so he decided to give it a chance.

“Sure.” Lance replied.

The human placed Lance on his shoulder, so he could have a better view of the TV, and rested his back on the wall, stretching his legs on the bed.

Lance, on the other hand, was as stiff as a stick from being so close to the human. He could feel his warm, and the little movements he did. 

As the movie went on, he ended up relaxing and, without noticing it, he rested his head on the human’s neck, it was really soft to Lance’s cheeks.

He really enjoyed the movie, and when it ended, he was expecting for the human to say something, but he was sleeping. He could feel his soft breathing. Now that it was so calmed, it didn’t look scary at all and Lance concluded he was one of the good humans. In a way, he looked cute and Lance didn’t want to stop him from resting.

While waiting for him to wake up, he started looking around the room. In the nightstand, beside the bed, he spotted a photograph. In it, there was the human he was on and four more. That made him realize he didn’t know how he looked. A mirror was one of the objects not worth risking effort in getting, that was what James always said. But Lance still wanted to know, he suspected that might help with the memory loss. Recalling that made him a little sad again, he missed his family, but there wasn’t a way he would be seeing them again.

******************************************************************************************************************

Keith groaned as he woke up. He immediately felt the small weight on his shoulder so he tried to not move, and looked at it.

“Sorry, I fell asleep.” The little guy was looking at him very intensely.

“Can I ask you a favour? Please?” He said. Keith was surprised, it was the first time he had started a conversation with him.

“Yeah, sure. What do you want?” 

“Can you give me a mirror? I have never looked into one and I would like to know how I look like.” 

Keith offered his palm to him, and he hoped on.

“You have never seen yourself?” Keith asked, slightly shocked at that. He left him on his table.

“Yeah, I don’t have memories past the last two months, and I haven’t used a mirror in that time.” His eyes looked sad after saying that. Keith felt bad for him, that must be hard. He went to the bathroom and grabbed a hand mirror that could stand on his own and placed it in front of the little human. He looked at himself for a while, and then he took off his bandana and his hoodie. Keith gasped.

******************************************************************************************************************

Lance had short and brown hair and a nice face, he definitely liked what he saw. He stared at his own eyes, they were of a dark blue colour. He could use some work on his facial skin and on his hair, but they were in pretty decent shape.

He forgot that the human was there until he heard him gasp. Lance turned around and looked at him. Tears were starting to form in his widened eyes, and his face turned slightly red, one hand covering over his mouth.

“Lance?” He whispered.

“How…How do you know my name?” Lance frowned and took some steps back, he was sure that he didn’t say his name, how could the human know it? It made him feel crept out.

“It’s me, Keith, we are friends.” He was hurted because Lance didn’t recognize him. Then it hitted Keith.

“Of course! You have lost your memories, that’s why you don’t remember me, we are friends Lance.” Keith had an idea. He put the photo of him and the others, the one that Lance was looking at before, next to the mirror.

Lance was shocked.

“I look exactly like him.” He pointed at himself in the photo. “Am I him? Am I a human?”

“Yes!” Keith was a cluster of emotions. “You used to be taller than me Lance, do you know what happened?” Keith could see that Lance was also agitated.

“I have no idea, in all the memories I have I’ve always been like this.” Lance pointed out.

“We have all thought you were gone forever. One day you just disappeared and we thought that something terrible had happened to you. It has been like two months.” The tears in Keith’s face turned into tears of happiness. “I’ve missed you so much.” He whispered. 

“I would like to say the same, but I have no idea of who you are. Although that photo definitely proves that you are right.” Lance answered. “Do you know how I could get back my memories?” Lance had finally a clue on who he was, he was closer on remembering his life.

“Pidge might now, but we have to tell your family and our friends that you are alive, they need to know.” Keith looked at the time and saw that Shiro wouldn’t take too long to come home. He wiped away his tears, after all that time, he finally felt relief.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading~~


End file.
